The Changing Times
by Callisto aneX
Summary: Set after Ashley has taken the blood. John, Magnus and Will set out to look for her, but meanwhile, a new organization Tempest appears along with a mysterious figure from Will's past. But if this isn't enough, Henry and Nikola have problems as well...
1. Find Ashley!

**Will's POV**

The entire team was sitting in Magnus' office, trying to figure out what to do. John was pacing up and down the length of the room, Magnus had her head in her hands, Nicholae was sitting on the end of the couch and I was staring off into space. Henry had left a while ago to make sure that all the security systems were online…….again. "I'm tired of waiting around" John said, walking up to Magnus. "How are we supposed to get back the blood if we sit and do nothing, what's worse is, we won't be able to find Ashley unless we get moving now!"

"Well, I'm out of ideas, so since Jacky here has such a bright mind why don't we just vault off to god knows where and just magically happen to end up in the exact same spot as Ashley" Nicholae said sarcastically, swinging his legs against the couch. "I may not have a plan but we need to do _something_" John shouted, annoyed. "The longer we wait the more time she has to teleport to somewhere where we'll never find her! So Nicholae, why don't you just go shove you're sarcastic remarks right up –"

"THAT is quite enough" Magnus said, slapping her hands on the table and standing up to get attention. "We are all just as worried about Ashley as you are John, and you Nicholae, should learn to control yourself better. We all need to calm down and think of a way to help Ashley and just……." She sighed and sat back down. Nicholae leaned back onto the couch and rested his hands behind his head "Couldn't have said it better myself, though I wouldn't take it out on the table. Magnus raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, maybe I would've, but that's beside the point" He put his feet up on the coffee table.

I had an idea, it wasn't a very good one, but it was a lot better than sitting around waiting for other suggestions, amusing as it was to see Nicholae make remarks "Henry was with her when they were captured by the Keval, maybe he knows something" Everyone looked at me, so I spoke up again quickly "What I mean is, did Henry notice anything even remotely different about her when they were rescued? Who knows what they could've done to her while she was there! If Henry can provide us with even a little bit of information………..we might be able to figure out what happened, even if it's just a small part"

Magnus stared at me in amazement, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Will, you just gave me an idea" She stood up, going into command mode "Henry told me that while he was at the Keval base, one of the scientists did some experimenting on him to make him bring out his true uhhh……._animal_, side." She paused, as if wondering how to continue "Will was absolutely right, we don't know what they did to Ashley, but if it's anything like what they did to Henry, then we might as well suppose that they did the same thing to Ashley, bringing out her true abnormal talents, they may have even made some kind of modifications to her memory somehow"

Nicholae nodded, sitting up again "Yes, that would explain _why _Ashley did this but I fail to see how this helps us figure out how to get the blood….and Ashley" he added quickly when he say the look Magnus gave him "..back"

Magnus sat down on the couch next to me, looking defeated. "I guess there's only one thing for it." She looked at everyone in the room, meeting each of their eye's in turn "Seeing as, being a teleportor, she probably won't show up on any of our equipment" She looked towards John for confirmation, as if she was unsure of herself. I noticed how open her eyes seemed to be, not literally but like she was trying to push her need out to the world, and she kept turning her frontal body position so that she was facing everyone at any given time. She was desperate, she needed comforting, but I knew Magnus well enough to be able to tell that she wouldn't accept this comfort too openly.

John nodded "Unless we knew an _exact_ location I doubt we will ever be able to find her using only computers and internet and lord knows what other sort of dodgy technology Henry has stuffed away….no offence" I jumped a little, I hadn't realized that Henry had sat down next to me. "None taken" he said.

"Well then" Magnus said, "it would appear that we are going to have to search for Ashley manually. Now _that_ caught everyone's attention. Everyone began talking at the same time, I began to start telling her how crazy and impossible her idea was when John interrupted "Helen you cannot be serious –"

"I am perfectly serious John; you of all people should know that this is the only way we are going to be able to find Ashley"

"While seeing you two lovebirds fighting is, in its own way, satisfying, there seems to be one tiny little flaw-"

"Yeah, like how the hell are you going to manage to find Ashley when she could be anywhere in the world" Henry interrupted Nicholae.

"And likely under the protection and influence of the Keval" I added.

"I've been thinking over the course of the past few days, and such a wide spread organisation like the Keval would need to have more than one base around the world, and a lot of them would have to be big, to constitute all of their research and I assume they have a large variety of members, training facilities, and research laboratories. And most of these are sure to be in secure and most likely deserted areas. And the Keval are used to being able to take what they want when it comes to the abnormal world and so it would only be common sense to suppose that they would choose to have facilities near landmarks or other places of terratological significance." We all stared at her oddly; I was just ever so slightly worried that the toll of the last few hours might have finally taken effect.

"We need to find a list of important mythological places and start from there. Look" Magnus pulled out a world map "I've already started, see there" She pointed to one of the countries "Scotland, seems to be the most likely place at the moment, there are many events and creatures there that would most certainly draw the Keval to have some kind of base there, it would seem reasonable to believe that Ashley might be there too." I started to see that she had a point, while she _could_ be any where in the world, if the Keval really had changed her, they most likely would have put her under their protection in one of their most secure facilities. And judging by the amount of rumours of mythical activity in Scotland in recent years, there was a chance that it could have attracted the Keval's attention.

John nodded "It would appear that as we have no other plan this is going to be our course of action" Magnus smiled "Well then everyone, I suggest we get ready, Nicholae, I need to speak with you"

As I was leaving the room, Henry asked "What do you think he meant by 'dodgy technology'?"

**Thankyou to all my friends who are reading this, B, Charlie, littlemissgoth (even though I haven't read it- littlemissgoth) and every other one of my friends who had no idea I was writing this but kept me going anyway.**

**I know the chapter went a bit fast but I wanted to get the beginning over and done with so that we can get on with the good stuff! Please review and remember, don't be shy, I want to hear all of you comments positive and negative.**


	2. Interesting

**A few quick notes to start off the chapter…**

**Thankyou kittenmew for your review and thankyou so much for telling me how to properly spell Nikola's name! I actually was a little worried about that.**

**And to charlotte, the mysterious character will appear around the fourth chapter, so you won't have to wait too long. **

**On with the story!**

**Magnus's POV**

Everything appears to have gone according to plan. Henry had gracefully acknowledged that he wouldn't be coming with us to search for Ashley. Firstly, he was still looking drained by his time at the Cabal headquarters and secondly, I needed him here. Will and John were double checking all of the equipment to make sure we had everything we needed for the long journey ahead. I'd already arranged for a small jet to meet us at the airport and take us straight to Scotland. Nikola however, was another matter altogether.

When everyone had gone to begin preparations, I took Nikola aside. "So, you wanted to speak to me" he said and I nodded "I want you to stay here" He started to protest, but I interrupted him "Henry has been through a lot in the past few hours and you are the only one who is fully capable of running the Sanctuary while I'm away. I trust that you will acknowledge the full bearings of what I am asking you and not make a fuss" I took a deep breath and lowered my voice "I would trust only one other person than you at this time and he is currently under the influence of the Cabal's weapon" Nikola sighed, then smiled "Well, I suppose I don't really have a choice; after all, I live to serve"

"Thankyou" I smiled. Nikola could be a pain in the neck more often than most people would like, but he always had been a good friend to me. I walked to my room to pack, shaking my head. It had been a long day and it was about to get even longer by the looks of things. I didn't know how long we would be in Scotland for, as long as possible if I had anything to do with it. But I packed light, making sure that I didn't pack anything I didn't need, but also making sure I didn't forget anything. I was just zipping up my bag when I heard a knock at the door.

"Come in" I said, Will opened the door "Hey, you ready?" he asked. I smiled "Ready when you are" Will walked further into the room. "Hey, listen I know that we're all set for finding Ashley and all, but……" he paused. "Go on" I urged him, Will hadn't been with us for very long, but I valued his input highly, he'd saved my life already, and that was enough for me to remove all doubts.

Will sighed "I know that we're all willing to put everything we have into finding Ashley, one way or another. My only issue is, what condition we'll find her in" I stared at him, slightly confused by what he was saying. "Her mental condition…we aren't entirely sure that they didn't mess up her brain functioning or memory permanently. If that is the case, I just want you to know that it's not your fault."

Now I understood. Will was worried how I would handle losing my daughter; in more ways than one.

I thought about it for a moment. Losing her physically had been worrying, and I had been so terrified of losing her, never seeing her again that I had been lost in a whirl of panic, to finally come up with a plan to find her was like having the life breathed back into me.

I wondered though, just how I would react if we found her, but she only saw me as an enemy, or didn't remember me at all……..

I shook my head to clear my train of thought. Ashley was waiting for me, I could not afford to waste time on distractions.

I looked up at Will, intending to reassure him "I'll be fine as soon as we find Ashley, when we do we'll just take it from there." Will still looked worried "Everything will work out fine" I said decidedly "now, we'd better get cracking, the second we get on that plane we'll have time to mull over things but until then, I need a cup of tea and I need you to make sure that all of the arrangements for everyone in the lower levels are ready and that they know what's going on." Will nodded, still looking slightly unsure, and walked out.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed Will to keep his usual sharp eye out for anything unusual while we were in Scotland. And I most certainly didn't need him to lose focus worrying over how I would deal with the situation if we found Ashley…. in a worse state than we expected.

I realised I hadn't drawn breath for a while, so I took a slow, deep breath and relaxed slightly. We still had another half hour to go until we would be fully ready to leave, on any other day I would have spent the time in my office or lab, but I needed to move around so that the nerves would settle. As I was walking down the hallway, I heard voices yelling something indistinguishable around the corner.

_Now what is all this about?_

When I rounded the corner I realized _exactly _what was going on. Nikola, John, Will and Henry were all arguing together so loudly it would have been hard to get a word in.

_Did I miss something?_

After waiting another few minutes for the argument to settle (which it had not) it was time to interrupt before it got out of hand.

"Is there a problem?" I asked as Henry, not realizing that I was behind him, jumped. The looks on their faces would have been amusing….if I had an idea what they were looking at me for.

John turned towards me "I understand that you have decided to leave Nikola in charge here while we are gone." I nodded "You understand correctly"

Will stared "What were you _thinking_? I mean this is Nikola we're talking about; he's probably just waiting for us to leave before he turns the place up on its end!"

"Yeah, did you forget that he practically kidnapped you in Rome just so that you could give his vampire buddies a lift in the IQ department?"

"I am still here you know" Nikola pointed out

"No, I most certainly have not forgotten that Henry, which is why I am trusting you to update me on events while I'm gone. Besides, Nikola helped us to retrieve the blood from the city and I believe that that gives me more than enough reason to trust him."

Nikola clapped his hands "Well I'm glad that's all sorted, but shouldn't you three be going? I don't think Ashley's going to enjoy staying in one spot for too long, just like her father; doesn't like long standing relationships wouldn't you say Jacky?"

John slowly turned to glare at Nikola, before it got out of hand, Will quickly grabbed John's arm and started to pull him back down the hallway.

"Hmmmm, I never did know what you saw in him Helen, I suppose his violent tendencies are in their own way quite seductive, but really….." Nikola tutted and shook his head, then walked away before I could even _try_ and reprimand him. Henry looked at me; his eyebrows raised "Well; this is going to be interesting"

**Ashley's POV**

_Huh? Where the hell am I?_ "Ow!"I rubbed my forehead furiously where I'd hit it on the bottom of the bunk above me. As I sat there, letting the pain slowly fade away, I took the chance to look around.

I was in a cell of some kind; the bunk bed that I was sitting on was the only furniture in it. Walking over to the cell door, I looked out on the empty corridor and realized that I wasn't the only one in a cell. Across the corridor I could see creatures and men all stuffed into tiny cells identical to mine.

First on my list of things to do, bust out of here, later, I'd figure out how the heck  
I ended up here, there were some slightly fuzzy memories lurking in the back of my head……..but I'd figure that out later. For now escaping was priority number one. Knowing it was probably a dead end, I tried the door.

It opened.

While the idea of freedom so quickly after waking up in my little prison was extremely tempting, there had to be some kind of trick to it. Maybe some kind of electric charge near the door or a motion sensor that would trip an alarm somewhere in the building. Either way, I wasn't about to sit around and find out.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly stepped through the door…..

**Aha! Another chapter finished, and hopefully enough to keep you guys interested. Speaking of which, I won't be updating my st****ory for the next two weeks, as I have other things to do and I'm going to be writing a few extra chapters. Please review and again, don't be shy, you got any ideas or anything for me I would be happy to hear about them.**

***Salutes* Over and out!**


	3. And so it begins

**Dana's POV**

"I understand your concerns gentlemen but believe me it will be worth your while. The second that our researchers have fully assessed the vial and its contents we can begin stage 2 of the operation, after that it'll be smooth sailing"

"And what about the girl? The woman who delivered the blood to you?" Someone asked from the far end of the conference table.

The voice, I realized, belonged to none other than Mr Kadi Denvt, the newest member of our covert operations. He seemed trustworthy, but in this kind of business trust never mattered for very long. His name, of course, was fake, but so were several other members' names. But there was one thing about him that particularly unnerved me. The man was too confronting; if he thought he saw a flaw in the plan or wanted to know something that the others had calmly accepted they didn't need, or want, to know, he would question and question again and again until he received an answer that satisfied, or frightened, him into silence.

"Mr Denvt I assure you that Ashley is perfectly capable of serving us, when we captured her infiltrating the base, we made a few modifications on her ability to act independently, she may have regained the ability to speak independently by now but I promise you that everything is going as planned."

At the exact moment I finished speaking one of the employees walked in and whispered in my ear. "Yes, thankyou. Gentlemen" I stood up, as did the rest of them "I have business to attend to" I left them in the conference room telling the employee as we walked down the hallway "Ensure all of the appropriate measures are taken, I want the facility evacuated, and meanwhile" I took a syringe out of my bag and smiled "I'm going to have a little discussion with our guest"

**Will's POV**

The airport was hectic, even at this hour of the morning. I waited at the counter to be served. Everything was being unloaded from a van onto the jet that Magnus had arranged for our flight to Scotland; meanwhile, I was getting everyone's orders. It was going to be a long day and we wouldn't have much time to sleep on the plane.

The woman at the counter served me, and I walked out of the airport and onto the runway; taking the steps into the jet two at a time to get out of the cold. I shivered at the slight change in air temperature as I stepped inside the jet. It wasn't as cold as outside, but not exactly cosy either.

I walked over to John, wordlessly handing him his cup of coffee. I set Magnus' tea in the cup holder of her chair and took a sip out of my own cup while I put the small bag of bagels on top of the mini kitchenette in the back. Magnus was making some last minute phone calls to arrange for a taxi to pick us up when we arrived in Scotland, and to make sure that we had somewhere to sleep for the night.

I sat down in my seat, taking another sip of the hot coffee, anxious to get up in the air. It felt good to be doing something, but I didn't like not being able to do anything. After another minute Magnus hung up the phone and walked into the cockpit, having a quick discussion with the pilot before sitting back down in her seat. She turned around to face us "You'd best buckle up now, I don't think this plane is very gentle with take-offs"

I quickly put my cup down and rushed to buckle up. John looked at me, bemused "What does she me-"He was cut short when the plane lurched forward, knocking him back against the seat. He quickly clipped his belt together after that. Magnus laughed and took a sip of her tea. "Ah, thankyou Will, the pilot said that we should be arriving in Scotland in around two and a half hours. So you'd best get comfortable, when the pilot says we're at the proper altitude there are a few books in that cupboard in the back. Wake me up when we get there will you?"

I nodded "No problem" I was glad to see that Magnus had decided to get some sleep, she needed some rest after all she'd been through in the past forty-eight hours. Sleep didn't seem such a bad idea for myself at he moment, but I decided I'd wait until we were at the proper altitude so I could take my seat belt off.

Once the jet had quieted a little, I started to slowly slip into sleep, wondering what would happen when we finally arrived in Scotland…..

_The next morning at around 9:00 am Scotland time_

I met Magnus and John in the small café in the hotel that we'd arrived at last night. I didn't know the difference in time change here, or if there was any at all. All I knew was that I wouldn't last another two hours unless I had a cup of coffee. If I was lucky enough to have a decent breakfast and not a hurried one, I'd probably last another five.

I could tell that Magnus was burning to begin searching immediately, but she made sure that we all had an extremely large breakfast before we headed out. We stood outside of the hotel, wondering where to begin our search. "The best possible place to start our search would be near the Loch, I did a satellite search of all the larger buildings and facilities in the area and I suggest that the best place to begin our search would be here" Magnus pulled out a map and placed her finger on a large area of woodland a few miles from the Loch.

John looked at the map. "Well, it would seem as the most logical place to start. After all it's secluded, near a site of significant importance and unlikely to be disturbed."

"Right then" Magnus said decidedly, folding up the map and looking around "Now to get there"

_Two hours later, near the Loch_

After being dropped along the side of the road that led to the giant Loch, we'd began hiking towards our first facility. After an hour and a half, we'd reached a kind of winding path way, next to it was a sign saying 'Restricted Area Licensed Personnel Only'. It was the first sign that we were nearing the building, so we walked along the pathway until, finally, we reached it. The building was large and modern looking, made with dark, steel re-enforced wood. A perimeter fence surrounded the entire facility, topped with razor wire. At regular intervals there were small guard towers. I paused for a moment when I saw a gun barrel pointing towards me from a gap in a tower wall. After a few seconds, I realized that, because I wasn't shot, that the tower must have been empty.

The place looked eerie. There was no sign of activity. There was a gentle breeze blowing through the trees, surrounding the dark building, I felt like I was in a scene from a movie. Leaves were covering most of the out side surfaces of the building, there was a garage of some kind to the far edge of the facility, one of the doors stood open and you could see the back of some kind of military vehicle inside the garage. It looked like we'd found the Cabal's facility.

_Six hours previously, Cabal facility, Scotland_

**Ashley's POV**

As I put my foot down on the floor, I flinched a little and tensed, expecting something to happen. I waited a few seconds, but when I wasn't shocked or charged down in any way, I opened my eyes. Nothing had changed. My muscles loosened and I nodded my head "All right" I said, and started walking, more confident now, through the door.

"Good, you're up" I whirled around to face the speaker, fists coming up in a defensive position. "Oh no, don't worry, I'm not here to harm you." Dana walked around me in a circle, coming back to her position near the bunks. "I'm glad to see that you're awake Ashley, I've been wanting to chat with you."

"What do you want now Dana?" I sighed; a conversation with Dana was _so_ not on my list of priorities right now. "Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were feeling up to travelling"

"Travelling? I mean, I know I'm gonna bust out of here but I wouldn't exactly call it travelling"

"Oh, you're perfectly free to leave Ashley" Dana stepped up close to me "Go ahead" She gestured at the door "Please, go" She stepped back and sat on the bottom bunk.

I raised my eyebrow quizzically. "Okay" I said cautiously, and I turned to walk back through the cell door and out into the hallway.

One problem.

My legs weren't cooperating. In other words, I _wasn't moving_. I kept trying to push myself forward but my legs just stood there, not doing anything. It wasn't like they were frozen in a walking position or anything. They were in a normal standing position.

I looked up at Dana "What the hell did you do to me _now?_"

"I simply took a preventative measure" She held up a syringe, all the fluid had been drained "After all, I wouldn't want you to walk out on us during the transfer"

"Transfer? What transfer?" I asked; Dana was getting more cryptic by the minute.

"The transfer to another facility of course. The location of this facility has been compromised; I can't risk us being discovered. That fluid I just injected, will help keep you under wraps; I can't afford any mistakes Ashley, the board is getting anxious"

"Oh, fantastic! What am I, like some kind of human puppet now? Really humanitarian Dana"

"As a matter of fact that's exactly what you are, another few moments and you will do exactly as I say"

I tried to move my arms so that I could grab at her, but they weren't moving now either.

"Don't try to move Ashley; it's pointless to fight it." Dana looked at her watch "Just a few more seconds" She began walking around me in a circle again, watching my like some freak from the circus.

"You know Dana you really are a b-" I was cut off as my mouth stopped responding. Dana came to a stop in front of me. "Finally" She said "Ashley, you are going to walk to the military vans outside, you will not try to escape, and you will not resist any orders that I give you"

I felt my legs starting to walk, and I would have turned and glared at Dana if it weren't for the fact that my face wasn't responding.

As I walked through the hallway, I could see all of the other abnormals being kept here. Some of them looked distinctly human; others were more animal-like. We even passed a giant pool of some sort, there was a dark shadow moving at its bottom that I couldn't make out the shape of.

As we got to the front doors and were heading outside, I saw a man hiding behind some of the crates that were stacked next to the shed; he looked like he didn't want to be found. Not that I could have alerted anyone in my position.

I was loaded into the back of one of the vehicles, and we sped out through the gates.

**Finally finished! I would just like to add that the next chapter will be **_**really**_** short. Please R&R!**


	4. The New Guy

**Sorry that it's taken so long! I've been feeling like rubbish for the past few weeks. Damn these colds! This chapter is shorter than usual, basically because I wanted to put in a dramatic last piece for this chapter, but I couldn't do it last time.**

**Enjoy!**

**Will's POV**

Walking inside of the gates of the apparently empty Cabal facility made me feel strangely exposed. We walked slowly, carefully, towards the wooden door at the front of the building, and pushed on it carefully.

It was stuck.

I felt my hands along the edge of the wall next to the edge of the door until I found a small crack in the wall. The Cabal were a high tech organisation who were in charge of the majority of the worlds biggest organisations. I'd bet all my money on that they wouldn't just have a simple lock and key system, especially on one of the main doors.

I pushed at the crack in the wall with my fingertips in the confined space next to the door handle. Finally, I felt a section of the wall give way. Further up the wall next to the door, a small section of metal slid open to reveal a very complicated password system.

"Um, I don't suppose you guys know any of the Cabal's codes do you?" I asked, looking back.

John shook his head "No, but I think I may have found an easier way in" He pointed to a part of the back building " In a place this big there's bound to be a back door"

We walked over to the back building, we looked around the entire outside, John even went so far as to teleport onto the roof, but we only found one door, locked of course. Magnus shook her head "There is bound to be an easy access somewhere, they can't have put codes on all the doors"

"I hate to say this Magnus, but _you_ put codes on all of your doors" I said

"Only in some parts of the mansion" She countered and walked back over to the main building to look for any other ways in. I walked over to a box of crates near the building and looked at all the shrubs and bushes surrounding the walls. Who knew, maybe there was a secret passageway or something.

Something moved in the shadows. I jumped, spinning around and turning to face the crates where I thought I'd seen the movement. Nothing was there. This place was putting me on edge. I decided to go join Magnus and John again, being around other people would make me less jumpy. They weren't around the back of the building, so I decided to try the front, they couldn't have gone far that fast, even if John was a teleportor.

I walked past the main door. Still no sign of them. _Where could they be?_

I spun around, something had definitely moved behind the building just now. _This is starting to get weird_. I heard a scuttling sound behind me, I spun around again, in time to see something dart behind a group of bushes nearby. _Okay, something is definitely up._

I walked over to the bushes, what ever it was couldn't be that bad, and peered through a group of leaves…

WHAM!

Something jumped out of the bushes and whacked me over the head. I held onto consciousness just long enough to see a dark shape looming over me, before the world was enveloped in blackness.

**Magnus**** POV**

I woke up on a kind of bunk, confused, I was looking around, trying to think of how I got here, when the memories cam flooding back. With a jolt I sat up.

"_Ow!"_ I said, rubbing my forehead where I had hit on the bottom of the bunk above me.

Sitting up properly, I tried to remember exactly what order the events had happened in. I was quite sure I could remember what had happened. But I wasn't quite sure in what order my memories were in.

There was a clock on the wall, From the looks of it, I must have been out for at least three hours. I groaned. Damn this! I was supposed to be searching for Ashley, not being knocked unconscious! _Knocked unconscious?_ That was the key. _Think!_

That's when it came to me. The scuttling noise, the slight rush of wind as it had jumped at me; knocking me out. But what _was_ it that had knocked me out?

"Hello there Magnus" I whirled around to face whoever it was that was speaking. It was a man, he looked to be in his late forties, with greying hair and a scruffy appearance. This man must have been one of the captives of the Cabal. It wasn't that hard to figure out, he _did_ smell like he hadn't showered in a while. A year possibly?

"How do you know my name?" I asked him. "You've been quite the topic of discussion amongst the prisoners here, being one myself rather helps to catch up on gossip" He looked at me in a cool, calculating way. I felt like I wanted to shrink under the man's gaze, but I held firm. "Where are the others?" It didn't take someone with experience to realize that they weren't in the same cell.

"Others? You mean the man that was wondering around with you?" He asked me. I shook my head "_Men_ would be a better description as there were two of them." I replied, something didn't feel right about this. "Well then I'm sorry but I only noticed one other man with you, here I'll take you to him."

He opened the door to the cell, I walked out, making sure I was still facing him as I walked through the door. He led me down a corridor with harsh bright lights that stung my eyes, and down a small flight of steps, and stopped in front of a cell, with a figure lying stomach down facing the wall.

Satisfied that he seemed fine in the cell, I turned to the man standing next to me. "So," I said "Who are you?"

The man smiled "My name is David Kent"

**Well, geez, **_**that **_**took long enough. It's been three months since I started this chapter do you know? Now that is just **_**sad**_**. Well I hope you enjoyed that chapter, it wasn't actually as short as I thought it would be once I'd written the whole thing out, so that should keep you guys entertained. Please R&R! Enjoy!**


	5. Mr Who?

**Thanks to the two people who have reviewed chapter 4 so far. **_**So far**_** I say.**

**Enjoy!**

**Henr****y's POV**

"Aw, _man_, what is that smell?" I asked, trying not to breathe through my nose. Honestly, I come into the kitchen to get a glass of milk and I'm greeted with the all welcoming scent of mouldy cheese when I open the refrigerator. Life is good.

"Dude, that's just _wrong_" I said as I lifted up the container with the said cheese in it and looked inside. Jeez, next time I get the groceries I better check the use by dates. _Man _that is gross.

I heard someone walk into the room behind me. Well maybe heard is the wrong word. Felt would have been better, because, being a vampire, Nikola is very hard to hear… "Ah, here you are. Honestly for a computer geek I can never tell quite where you are, even if your smell is ever so…" Nikola sniffed me, then coughed "_potent_. Don't you wolves ever take showers?" …Until he opens his mouth that is.

"Hey, you don't exactly smell like a basket of roses either buddy. You vamps may be high tech but you got kind of an overzealous mint smell goin' on there. Geez if any one could smell you like I can the wallpaper would be peeling!" I chucked the cheese in the bin, took out the milk (sniffing it, just to make sure) and stormed out of the room. God, that guy just did not know the meaning of the word quit. For the past day and a half I've been working my butt off trying to keep the defences up and running. Some freakazoid keeps trying to hack all my firewalls, probably Cabal work.

I headed for the elevator, I wanted to check up on the big guy. He was still pretty violent. There didn't seem to be any sign of it slowing up either.

Moodily, I took a sip of the milk, _bleh!_ Maybe this thing was out of date… "Where are you going?" "Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" I jumped fumbling with the milk for a few seconds to make sure I didn't drop it. "Don't _do _that!" I yelled at Nikola.

He shrugged his shoulders. "What? Use my crafty vampire abilities to sneak up on you?" I sighed mentally, what had Magnus been thinking when she let this guy take over? If ya find out, call me.

"Yes, your crafty vampire abilities! You've been creeping around and freaking me out for the past two days! You're supposed to be running the place! In case you can't remember, we're supposed to be one, locating the blood and two" I held up two fingers "Keeping the Cabal from accessing and other wise blowing up the place."

"Well, I'm sure with your technical savvy, the place should be just fine without me for a while, speaking of which, I have some business to attend to. Don't wait around for me."

"Wha-" He was already gone. _Damn_.

I shook my head, not bothering to wonder what Nikola might be up to. I love my job, but when it comes to dealing with guys like Nikola who leave all the hard work for everyone else…well they just *# me off. I kept walking through the mansion, I didn't feel like seeing the big guy so much anymore, I don't think I could take any more. I rounded a corner, not thinking about where I was going. To be honest, I didn't want to have to go anywhere, just walking around with no actual destination can be really refreshing. It's a nice change not to have something to do once in a while, to just sit back and relax… _beep beep_. Well stuff that.

I cracked my knuckles, another firewall coming right up. And the guy who was trying to take it down was gonna get a nasty surprise. The reason I hadn't showered in a while is because I was working on some new software. Updating the updates would be a pretty a good way of putting it. Whoever was attempting to hack the system was going to get a _very_ nasty surprise.

I got to the elevator and was about to punch in the number for my level, when _oh snap_. My software was downstairs. As in, _downstairs_, downstairs. Whoever it was that was doing the hacking could get through in the time I was downstairs. Aw, hell. I could just put in the software on the computer downstairs and it would still work.

Decision made, I punched in the number and waited impatiently for the doors to reopen.

I started tapping my foot, could this thing take any longer? _Ding._ Finally. I stepped out and _ran_ to the computer at the other end of the lab.

_Cardboard box_I thought. _Where is the cardboard box?_ I spied it underneath the desk. "Aha!" I pulled out the plug connected to my little separate dohicky for emergency upload. "Try and hack this sucker!" I flicked the switch and waited, excited, for the inevitable beeping that would mean my software was working.

_Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep…_ hold on a second… I recognised that kind of beeping. I tore open the cardboard box and took a closer look at my contraption. Stuck neatly on the side of my motherboard wires, was a neat little rectangle of hard black metal and in plain red numbers on the front were 0:03.

"Oh sh-" I started to say…

BOOM!!!!!!

**No POV**

_The man in black moved quickly, silently, through the shadows. Keeping to the alleyways and back streets, the man moved quickly through the run down part of town to stop and lean, casually, against a lamp post on the far side of a bridge. The weak light that was shed from the run down gas lamp was hard to see by. But the man in black had no issues wit the poor lighting. After all, he would not be able to see the client approaching anyway, until the last possible moment. That is, if the client wanted to be seen at all._

_The man in black shifted slightly, uncomfortable in his position. It was raining heavily, and his black clothes protected him well from both the wet and the cold, but still the night had an air of mystery, of darkness just ready to seep into the world's heart the moment it let it's guard down. And it would, as all things eventually do._

_The man smiled. He was becoming quite a poet these days. He would have to watch that. A clap of lightning struck the earth nearby. But the man did not flinch. His client had arrived._

_A lone figure walked slowly, with purpose, across the old cobbled bridge towards the man in black. The man could not see much of his client's features, but did not look too hard. Many clients were sensitive about their identities, and did not appreciate being scrutinised too closely. _

_The figure spoke first "You know the job I have proposed, and I have your fee, when will the operation will be finished?" The man in black waited a few seconds before replying "As soon as you would like"_

_The figure nodded, then pulled from underneath their cloak a small suitcase, in which the man in black new the first half of his fee was stacked neatly in hundred dollar bills. But before handing it to him, the figure said "I trust you have already researched my background I take it?" The man tensed, most of his clients did not know about the organisations policy of not asking questions, but still knowing your client. The figure laughed "It's quite alright Frances" The man stood stock still, an expression of shock showing on his face for a moment before slipping back into calm. "If you had not researched me, I would have labelled you incompetent, and with you having my contact details, even though they are not my real ones, I would have had to kill you. I'm glad I can finally keep someone alive for a change" Frances still stood there, tensed "However, I hope you realise that failure on this particular operation will mean certain death for you and your superiors. The board do not take failure lightly, and I do everything possible to make sure that they are kept happy. Now; do we have a deal?"_

_The figure held out their hand. Frances shook it. "All will be done as asked, Mr Griffin"_

_Griffin smiled "It better be" H__e turned around and, right in front of Frances; disappeared. No flash, no bang, no worm hole. Just gone. Frances shook his head. The money had better be worth it._

**Well, that certainly took less time than the last chapter to write! ****I hope you like this chapter. I just wanted to put in a bit more where Henry and Nikola are concerned, because you gotta admit; they're not the happiest bunch of petunias.**


	6. Between the Two

**Thanks to all the people who reviewed my last two chapters. Thanks also to Melissa. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far****, you're review was really detailed; again, I'm glad you're enjoying my story. As for killing Henry… well, you'll just have to wait and see. Is anyone else as excited as I am that Season two is coming out?!!! Of course, now we know what happens with Ashley in the official Season 2, I will of course be borrowing, and destroying, some of the actual producers/directors/writers ideas. Can I also just mention that if you were frustrated by the long wait for this chapter, there **_**was**_** a poll on my profile that you could have participated in on what this chapter was going to contain; therefore this chapter has become a filler and the chap 7 will come soon.**

**Magnus' POV**

"So, how on earth did you get here?" I asked pointedly. David Kent and I were sitting a little way down the corridor from the cell that I'd woken up in. After making sure that that my colleague was well, I'd decided that it was about time I received some answers about the whole affair.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really know. I was always a little different, but I never really showed any outward signs of…of oddness. One day, a few months ago actually, I was walking to work. All I really remember is the sidewalk and then I woke up here."

Now that was odd, if this man had never showed any outward signs of abnormality then there should be no reason for the Cabal to be interested in him, unless he was lying. They're fighting for humanity after all. I sighed mentally; all of this trickery was starting to get on my nerves.

I looked at Kent again. With brown hair that was matted and had grown down to his earlobes from his months in captivity, brown eyes and unkempt beard, he looked the picture of man hardened by his time in imprisonment.

Kent looked at me curiously, obviously waiting for me to answer. I decided to get off the topic of his capture and investigate further into our own. "I have to say; you gave us quite a scare when you snuck up on us in that fashion." I laughed a little "You seem to be fairly civilised, and yet…" I rubbed the back of my head thoughtfully, wincing a little as I touched the bruising, and put my hands back in my lap "you pack quite a punch there Mr Kent"

Kent frowned slightly, saying "I don't quite know what you're talking about Magnus, I just found you and that other man…" He trailed off, looking at me expectantly "John" I urged. Kent nodded "Yes, John, and brought you here. I saw you both and simply dragged you both back inside."

I eyed him carefully "Funny, you don't look as if you have the type of strength required to drag two full grown adults." Kent smiled "Well, thankyou…I guess."

I shook my head "That wasn't a compliment." I turned my self so that I was directly facing him "I'm getting a little sick of having people lie to me. You couldn't possibly posses the man power required to drag both myself and John thirty metres and up several flights of stairs. Mr Kent, are you absolutely sure that you have no abnormalities what so ever?"

Kent shook his head, smiling "None"

"I am being perfectly serious Mr Kent" I said, I was beginning to get frustrated with the growing smile on his face "If I find out that you have lied to me, you can trust that my displeasure will not be comfortable for you"

Kent held up his hands in mock surrender "Hey, you don't want to trust me that's fine, but I'm telling ya, I got nothing to hide, if I did, then what reason would I have for making sure you two were okay?" I stopped just as I opened my mouth to retaliate. He could have made sure that we were fine simply because he had nothing to hide, or he could have rescued us so that it would give the _impression_ that he had nothing to hide. This was beginning to give me a headache.

I put my head in my hands "I suppose you're right" Kent gave me a quick pat on the back. "You just watch" he said kindly "Everything will turn out all right" I sighed "I wish I could be so sure" And with that I stood up and walked away.

**Will's POV**

"Uuunngghh" I groaned. My head felt like it had been rolled over by a truck. I struggled to lift my hand to feel how bad the damage was, I could feel it responding, but it wasn't moving. "Ugh" I groaned again. I tested my fingers, they all moved from what I could feel. I tried to move my head so I could see my body, but the moment I tried to move it another wave of pain washed over me and I gave up on that avenue of action for the time being. Making sure not to move my head around too much, I surveyed what I could see of my surroundings.

Which turned out to be absolutely zero.

Wherever I was, it was pitch black. "Oh _no_" I couldn't believe it, something had gone wrong. We had been walking around to our fancy being whoever knows how loud in the middle of a high-tech Cabal facility. Should we have been more careful? Yes. Should we have been worried or suspicious when we found a major Cabal facility abandoned? Big, fat _yes. _"This is ridiculous" I told myself. Wiggling my legs around a little, they were a bit reluctant to move as well. For a fact, they weren't moving anywhere at all. Bracing myself, I lifted my head up, fighting the urge to lay it back down again as the wave of pain crashed over me again. Moving my neck just a little further forward, I was able to see the rest of my body.

"What the…" This was bad. _Very_ bad.

**Nikola's POV**

**BOOM!**

"Woah!" I rocked slightly on my feet as I grabbed onto the nearest solid object to stop myself from falling. The solid object, which happened to be a part of the wall, did not fare as well as I did. It turns out that in my haste I managed to plough my fist into the wall. Once the shudder had subsided, I attempted to pull my hand out of the hole I had made; some parts of the wall now seemed to be relying on my hand for support, so I was what some could consider as _stuck_. I pulled my arm again, and again. No such luck. But what of the cause of the explosion? The only other person who would have been able to …

I sighed "I'm going to kill him" And ripped my hand out of the wall.

**Magnus' POV**

I was taking a walk, trying to clear my head so I could figure out what to do next, when I came across the markings. They shouldn't have even captured my attention, it was only when I almost tripped on a rock that I noticed the tracks of something similar to an insects. Four slightly large marks on both sides of the tracks. Whatever had made these tracks moved themselves all over the place. If I didn't know better I would think these marks were made by an …

I stood up quickly, trying not to make too much noise, or disturb the bushes too much. I walked away quickly, looking around myself every now and again to make sure I wasn't being followed. Urgency quickened my steps, until I found myself running towards the compound.

"Mr Kent!" I yelled up the stairs as I ran to open the door to John's cell. I fumbled a little with the latch to open the door, clumsy in my frantic attempts to move too quickly. "Kent!" I yelled again, more desperate this time; there was no answer. "No" I gasped. This could not be happening. I pulled and banged on the door again, reducing my eyes to tears as I tried to get open the door, when I felt a hand close quickly around my wrist and suddenly; for a brief moment that might as well have lasted an eternity, as if every cell in my body was rearranging themselves, I couldn't feel anything. Then, with an impact that let the breath out of my lungs with a quick _whoossshhh_, I felt my body come in contact with solid ground again. I coughed, trying to recover from the shock and the adrenaline pumping through me. I doubled over, hoping I wasn't going to throw up.

"You really should warn me the next time you do that John" I managed to gasp as soon as I could breathe properly. I heard a light chuckle coming from behind me. "Well, it's never seemed to bother you before now" I was able to choke out a quick laugh "Yes, well before now I've at least had a few seconds to prepare myself. Help me up" I held out my hand, and he pulled me to my feet. I quickly brushed some dirt off my pants before I looked up to see that John had teleported us just outside the gates of the facility.

I sighed. Now we just had to figure out what we were going to do next. I sat down again next to the trunk of a tree and lay out what I already knew. As I thought over everything that had happened, I noticed something. We were being distracted. This wasn't getting us any closer to where Ashley was being kept. But with Will missing, we couldn't continue to look for Ashley. And if what I'd already seen was anything to go by, finding Will was going to take some time.

"John" I sighed "What do you know about arachnids?"

He shrugged "Not much, they have eight legs and are easy to step on, otherwise; nothing"

I nodded. "How do you feel about spiders the size of horses?"

John looked at me, an odd look on his face. "Helen" he gave me a warning tone "what are you talking about?"

I stood up "When I was talking to Kent, he told me he wasn't an abnormal. When I asked him about what happened to us, he didn't know what I was talking about."

John looked confused "You mean he wasn't the one who attacked us?"

I nodded "I believe so. But" I held up my hand to stop him from speaking "We still have one problem though, Will."

John nodded "I assume you're trying to tell me that whatever knocked us out has, kidnapped, Will?"

"Which means" I continued for him "that we also need to assume that something has happened to Kent, which also means…that we have a rescue mission to perform"

**Can I just say that this chapter has been this way for several months… I was waiting for an answer to the poll I put up on my profile. If you have any qualms about the contents of this chapter then you should have checked my profile. For all the readers out there who want chapters out sooner…check my profile every once in a while and the story might go somewhere. **

**Hope this chapter was an okay filler and I'm sorry that it couldn't have been more; especially after you guys waited so long to have it up.**


	7. Aftershock

**Okay, I absolutely from the bottom of my heart apologise for taking several months to do this chapter. But my life has been snowed over in paper and along with a severe case of writer's block I was unable to work on my story. ****I'd also like to apologise for the 'order' as Melissa put it, to read my profile. Thanks Melissa by the way, for your helpful reviews.**

**No POV**

_The man in black was __in hiding. The device had been defective and severely injured him, he had not been careful enough. His target had entered too soon. He'd been forced to press the button while he was still inside the building. Normally he would double check his equipment before every job, but in this case he'd been pressed for urgency. _This is what happens when you rush_ he thought, clicking a fresh magazine into his shotgun. There had been no need for anything more efficient, spiffy or accurate. A .22 was effective, but try grocery shopping with that slung over your shoulder. An operation, if it was to be carried out secretly required subtleness. A shotgun provided that subtlety.  
_

_Thinking about the op gone wrong made the man's blood boil. The objective had been simple. Implant the device, get out of the building, target enters room with device on. Press button, no more target. But the device had been defective, the outcome was erroneous and h__is superiors would not be happy, his client even less so. The man in black glanced at his watch. His exit team was late. He grumbled a little as he settled his back against the wall. _

_The man in black sighed. Maybe his team had not received the message? Had they passed it on to the higher command yet? The questions whirled through his head. He groaned slightly and put his head in his hands. Questions caused head aches, and head aches were not helping his injuries. _

_The man in black heard a knock on the door, and sighed as he got up to open the door. "You took your bloody ti-"the man in black never finished his sentence. He didn't even finish twisting the door knob._

_The team did a good job of cleaning the scene. The only sign that anything odd had ever happened in this quiet hotel, was a hole in the upper half of the door. As the __team cleaned the blood from the walls and floor, the woman in grey leaned against the door opposite; and cleaned her shotgun._

**Will's POV**

I could have kicked myself, I'd been so stupid. I admit that I couldn't have known that this kind of trouble would find us. But I _should_ have known that the Cabal would not just up and go for no good reason. Or that they wouldn't at least leave something nasty behind to compensate for not giving us a terrible surprise in the form of _guns_. But of course I couldn't kick myself could I? And do you want to know why? I was tied up. Fully enveloped in sticky white stuff. It was fairly thin, so it wasn't any kind of rope, but it was strong and a real pain to try and move around in. I wasn't sure if my legs would survive being tied up like this much longer, not that I was a good judge seeing as I couldn't feel them anymore.

Another thorn in my side was the fact that I was hanging _upside down_ from the roof. Oh joy. I may not have been able to feel my legs, but I could definitely feel the blood rushing to my head. The pounding noise of my blood was painful and gave me a headache. Now surveying your surroundings while in serious danger and pain is not as easy at it looks in the movies. You don't get up and go "Ventilation shaft, go!" It requires precision, thinking, and preferably no headaches.

I was in a barn of some kind. Almost the whole thing was made of wood, with the floor being covered by straw. The majority of the railing was covered in dust and the barn doors looked rather forlorn. One barely hanging onto the hinges and the other half destroyed by termites. Nothing was holding the two closed together, as the wind was making them creak on their hinges. If I rotated my neck slightly, I could see a large hole in the roof, where the beams had rotted away and let the wood of the roof fall through.

I was strung between two of the railings, hanging almost completely upside down, held up by a network of threads similar to the ones which were binding my legs and arms. I couldn't exactly see everything as I could only rotate my head slightly, and bouncing around on the threads doesn't seem like a great idea when one is more than two metres off the floor and would likely face plant, literally.

I heard a faint ssshhhing sound as rain began to fall through the hole in the roof. Droplets where pouring down and the doors were letting freezing cold wind through. I sighed, it was all going fine an hour ago.

**Nikola's POV**

Clean up was not going well. The floor which the explosion had originated from was still blocked by a large amount of rubble and I had no idea where Henry was. It was a shame really, as I really, _really_ wanted to hit someone. I kicked aside some small rocks as I surveyed the area. As a result of shock to the wall supports, the elevator refuses to move until someone overrides the back-up security system. Something Henry conveniently forgot to tell me the password of, and which the Big Guy was in no position to talk to me about

I turned my incredible attention span towards the door. Oh wait, I couldn't see the door as there appears to be a mountain growing in the middle of the hallway. "You see" I pointed to the mess blocking my way "this is what happens when you take the dog off the leash". Whatshisname with the two heads rolled all four of his eyes when he thought I wasn't looking. _I_ thought it was funny.

As no one else was in the condition, Two Face and I were left with the task of cleaning the remainder of the walls off the floor. A man of my genius shouldn't be doing menial things like this, but upon finding one of Magnus' favourite vases on the floor; I figured that for now I could leave the complaining to when she might be in a more…agreeable mood.

I left Two Face with a winching machine and went back to check on the cameras. The playback until the camera exploded didn't catch much of the action. _There's Henry walking in_. I thought. I had watched and re-watched and thrown the screen at the wall but there was nothing new. Still, I had an odd feeling I was missing something. I watched Henry duck his head under the desk, then pop back up, through the slightly fuzzy camera view I could make out a shocked expression. _Fish face_ I thought. Henry pushed the chair back and looked about to make a run for it when the camera melted. I noticed something new though.

I rewound the video and played it again. _There_. I paused it. A shape was crouching behind a beam, just out of camera view. I rewound the tape further back. There it was, the abnormality I hadn't seen. Out of one corner was the mermaid's tail, for two minutes of security video her tail was twitching. Camera loop.

I kicked the couch so it made a reasonable sized hole in the wall. "Bastards!"

**I have to end this chapter here unfortunately. Not much for your wait, sorry, but this weekend ****is free for me, so chapter 8 will definitely be going up then.**

**Again, any reviews whatsoever are appreciated.**


	8. To Go Forward

**To**** all the people who bother to read this story and review it, I thank you.**

**Okay so chapter 8 is finally here and the story can move forward. Yay!**

**Special thanks to Melissa, who keeps encouraging me to move forward in the story. Glad you're enjoying the weather over there, cause it's **_**freezing**_** down here.**

**Dana's POV**

Ashley must have been frustrated. You couldn't tell, as the drug that was coursing through her veins prevented her making any independent decisions for her own body. She sat behind me, and I could feel her eyes on the back of my head through the leather backed seat. I permitted myself a small smile. _Frustrating, she has no clue_ I thought before I turned to her.

"Ashley, I hope you understand just how much you mean to the Cabal and this operation."

She blinked, and I had to smile again.

"Your cooperation has allowed us to put into action a plan that will totally and completely bring the Cabal forward in both the research to eradication of abnormals but will also give us the headway we need to succeed in our future as the top organisation for the sake of humanity"

No response, of course. "The Sanctuary, Ashley. The board has agreed that it's time to eliminate the competitors. Unfortunately, your mother and the Sanctuary are at the top of the list." I patted Ashley's knee, I could see something in her eyes, distain. "Remember who holds the upper hand here Ashley. All you can do, is fall into pace with the rest of us."

I moved back to my original position, making myself comfortable for the remainder of the facility change. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, feeling a slight twinge of annoyance at the slowness of the proceedings. Stage two was on track, and there was plenty of time left to deal with the remaining pieces. But my nerves were on edge. Plans seldom go this smoothly, one on such a large scale could easily have difficulties. I pondered briefly on the measures put in place to ensure the smooth running of this stage.

I had agents watching the Sanctuary, we knew of every move that Helen Magnus was currently making. But something still seemed… unbalanced. I sighed and turned to the window, watching the clouds fly past the wings of the jet. I was becoming too paranoid. My most recent conference with the board had been… tenser than usual. They were becoming nervous. The one satisfaction from that meeting had been the absence of a certain Kadi Denvt. Without his many interruptions and questions I was able to quickly resolve the board once again. I leaned back slightly so as to look at Ashley, and smiled.

"You'll see the picture quite clearly soon Ashley. And trust me, you'll love it"

_From behind Dana's chair, as the woman herself turned away, Ashley released a small tear._

**Henry's POV (several hours earlier)**

"WOAH!" I yelled as I felt my back smash against the wall. I let out a small oof as I fell to the ground. Damn that concrete is hard.

I moaned as I struggled to get up from the floor when another shudder went through the building, and I heard a loud cracking noise from above me. "Oh, that's not good" I pushed hard at the floor with my feet and hands, trying to scramble to my feet. I just managed to lunge through a small partition of the wall. Just in time too, as a small section of the ceiling separated from the rest of it and thundered down onto the concrete where I had been only a few seconds ago. Whew, that was a close one.

I poked my head out of the partition, just to make sure that no other chunks of the ceiling, or wall, were going to squish me. Satisfied that my life would not end being squished between two pieces of concrete, I stepped out and surveyed the damage to the lab.

"Oh wow…" Ummm, did I say lab? I meant ancient ruin.

The place was trashed, and that was me being nice. Cracks were running up the walls around me, especially near the doorway through to the elevator. Good thing I knew my way around, cause if I didn't I would assume that someone had tried to build a door, gotten cranky with it and chucked some boulders made out of the ceiling on it. You could still see a bit of the side panel; what was left of it. I blinked a few times to clear my vision and get my brain back into focus. The remaining pieces of door were interesting, but it took me a few seconds to remember that there were abnormals down here too. "Shit!" I whirled around to look at the habitats. Not the most flattering name, I get it, but I refuse to call Sally's home a fish tank. Or an aquarium, I would have asked her about it, but I didn't think it would be polite. You ain't felt in trouble until Sally has given you a glare. I could almost feel the glass vibrating with her hiss. It sounded more like a gurgle, with all the bubbles coming out of… but you get the picture.

I took a massive sigh of relief when I saw Sally's tank… uh, habitat. The glass hadn't shattered, thank mother Mary, as I had no idea what I would've done in that scenario, pack her in ice cubes? Attach a water bottle to her gills? Maybe giver her a sponge or something, but whatever, the glass was mostly intact. Little cracks were running from a decent sized round dent off centre of the tank. Judging from the size of the steel beam in front of the tank, I guessed we were very lucky the ceiling needed such long beams. The end must have hit the floor, while the other end tipped and banged against the glass on its way down.

I gave a thumbs up to Sally, who was looking a little frantic. Her hands were up against the glass, her head moving side to side as she looked at all the damage. As I turned my back on her, I let out a small whistle to fully release the tension in my stomach. The milk I'd had on my down here was going to make a sudden reappearance if I didn't put my mind to fixing the problem instead of just staring at it. The majority of habitats were still intact, again thanks to who ever up in the sky is watching me, as I was _so_ not in the mood to deal with a freaked out carnivorous lizard.

Some of the glass doors had smashed, but there was still chunks from the ceiling and walls raining down and they were blocking those entrances. Hopefully none of them were dead. Some of these guys could get pretty scary when they were nervous, and I wasn't about to climb over and check out if they were in the mood for a free punching bag.

As I sat down on one of the ceiling beams, I suddenly remembered the hacking incident that got me into this mess. I climbed over some of the wall chunks to get to the middle of the room. I stepped on something and managed to slip on it, landing with a nice hard thunk on my back and also successfully banging the back of me head on the wall piece I just climbed over. Lights were dancing in my eyes as I rubbed the back of my head. I now give my current situation in life, a one out of five.

I looked down to see what I'd slipped on and sighed. I was sitting on the scattered pieces of my broken hard drive. Smashed, squished, off this earth, it was an ex-computing system. Still rubbing the back of my head I checked the rest of the software equipment. Three of four screens I could not find, and on a personal note, I didn't want to find them. The new software I'd been working on to deal with the system hacking was pretty intact, only some minor pieces were missing, though it was a little banged up from landing on it's sides.

Brushing it off lightly, blowing on it to get rid of the light dust, I noticed something that (from this angle) looked like a piece of twisted metal. Could have been a piece of melted desk for all I knew. But it just stuck out from such an odd angle in the corner of my vision that I was starting to get a little annoyed with it. It irked me.

Stepping over towards it, I could see much more of the metal than I had standing on the other side. Gently placing my hardware on a lump of rock, I bent down to pull it way from the loose rubble it was sticking out of. "Ah, so this is where you went" I mused out loud. First sign of madness? Tell me about it. What I held in my hand could only be described as a former timing system. The piece of machinery that had been ticking away when I picked it up from beneath the desk, the wireless feed that told the bomb tucked away in some corner of the room, it hadn't been under the desk _thank God._ I reached this sudden sense of relief, like world had reached zero gravity and was floating around me, I'd been so damn lucky that this timer hadn't been attached to the actual bomb. "Man" I said out loud "I felt like blowing up in Nicola's face, but this is ridiculous"

**Will's POV**** (present time)**

I could hear the scuttling noises coming from the rafters in the barn. I squirmed around, trying to move, terrified of what was coming. I couldn't do much; I was so groggy from being hung upside down for such a long period of time. The string was vibrating, something else was moving it. My breath was coming quicker and my head was pounding. Why hadn't I blacked out yet? The world was too fuzzy, my mind felt too heavy to think of a way out. As the world grew fuzzier and fuzzier, the only thing I could hear were the clicking noises that I'd been dreading for so long now…

**H****ey it's chapter 8! At the end of the last chapter I promised you guys I'd have it up on the weekend and several weeks later… Note to self – can't keep promises, consider politics. This is kind of a filler chapter because nothing much happened with Will. But it will in the next chapter, no matter how long it takes me to write. How's the Henry storyline btw, does anyone feel like I might be missing something or if you have any ideas just review and tell me. Please review, it makes me feel more compelled to write if I hear from my readers.**


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